UK complicit in Al Khalifa crimes in Bahrain: Analyst

The UK government should be “ashamed” of its support for the Bahraini regime and must be held responsible for assisting Bahraini and Saudi Arabian security forces in their crackdown against the years-long uprising in the Arab kingdom, says a British academic and political analyst.

London-based Dr. Rodney Shakespeare made the comments while discussing Britain’s close ties with Bahraini monarchs despite their many crimes against humanity.

Under a confidential agreement in 2015 obtained by the Observer, the UK’s College of Policing agreed to train forces of Bahrain’s Interior Ministry.

Shakespeare said the move was part of a joint plan between the West and Saudi Arabia to stifle democratic movements in the Middle East, which would in turn allow for Israel to expand its illegal territories.

“We do this as part of an imperial policy hand in glove with Saudi Arabia, [for] the ultimate object of suppressing any form of democracy in the region,” the academic told Press TV on Sunday.

“One of the reasons for that is that democratic forces are opposed to the expansion of the Israeli entity,” he added.

Bahrain has been rocked by uprisings since February 2011, with protesters calling on the Al Khalifa family to relinquish power.

A Bahraini demonstrator walks through teargas fired by security forces following a demonstration in the village of Sitra, south of Manama, on January 1, 2016. (AFP photo)
Troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — themselves repressive Arab regimes — have been deployed to the country since March that year to assist the Manama government in its onslaught on peaceful and pro-democracy rallies.

Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of others injured or arrested during the clashes.

Additionally, more than 3,000 prisoners remain in arbitrary detention in Bahrain, according to a report by the report by the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR).

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in January that people who had been detained at Bahrain’s Criminal Investigations Directorate between 2013 and 2015 faced extensive torture.

The torture methods included electric shocks, prolonged suspension in painful positions, severe beatings, threats to be raped and killed, forced standing, exposure to extreme cold, and sexual abuse.

However, Shakespeare said the revolution was not going to slow down despite the viciousness.

“So this democratic people, this brave people which is being stunned, gassed, electrocuted and tortured by methods devised by my own government; they would continue fighting on,” the analyst noted.